Top officials from the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran on Monday for the final round of nuclear talks over Iran's P-1 and P-2 centrifuges, the state media reported.

 

Olli Heinonen, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) heads the delegation, which tasked with negotiations with Iran over the country's use of P1 centrifuges and its research into the more sophisticated P2, which are both for enriching uranium, according to the official IRNA news agency's report.

 

"We have done many things so far but there remains a lot of other work that hopefully will be resolved," Heinonen was quoted as saying upon his arrival at the airport.

 

According to the state television, Mohammad Saeedi, who heads Iranian delegation and is deputy head of the country's Atomic Energy Organization, said the previous talks with the IAEA were " comprehensive and explicit," adding the Islamic Republic was ready to answer the remaining questions to finish the talks over centrifuges.

 

"Tehran hopes both sides can conclude negotiations in the new round of talks," said Saeedi.

 

Compare to P1, P2 centrifuges are more advanced and could produce more uranium, which can be used as nuclear fuel or key material for atomic weapons at the same time.

 

The ongoing talks is crucial since the result of it could be basis for a report over the status of the Iranian uranium enrichment program by the IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei by the end of November.

 

The United States and some other Western countries fear Iran may try to develop atomic bombs under a civilian cover, however Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

 

The UN Security Council has already issued two sanction resolutions against Iran's nuclear program since last December, but both of them failed to persuade the Islamic Republic to give up uranium enrichment work.

 

Washington now is trying to push the UN Security Council to adopt a third resolution against Tehran's defiance, but Iran's cooperation with the IAEA and the EU in the past months has let other world powers agree to wait the ElBaradei's report until November to make their decision.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2007)